by Mariana Alves Barbosa, with collaboration of Juliana Trama, Thaís Coelho and Amanda Tamburus
Abstract
This article presents the Brazilian collective ARQTETATLAS and its activist research, which identifies contemporary architecture designed by women, and maps female architects authors under the Latin American territorial clipping. In 2018, the collective's research has already identified and mapped nearly 200 Latin American women architects and their productions. The investigation, organized in an atlas, allows the construction of a database that contributes to a more plural narrative of the craft. Thus, as the "Panorama of Works Selection" award of the XI BIAU is approaching, we intend to reflect on female representation and present the winning projects and architects of this edition.
Key-words: Women architects; architecture; Latin America; representativeness; gender; atlas; project.
Introduction
If in the 20th century, the woman's work is already recognized in the house design, the 21st century brings its consolidation. It occurs either by the "historical association of the house to the feminine; the more modest financial investments and the relatively lower prestige" (LIMA 2014, p.83), or by the higher demand for residential projects when compared to the dependence on public investments and private interest in the construction of the collective space.
The penetration of works led by women within the professional area of architecture continues, however, gaining greater dimension, bringing a unique parade of examples that deserve to be identified, published, and studied.
"(...) every day it is easier to find women in charge of projects and constructions of collective spaces. This indicates that collective clients, institutions, companies and the state itself, have found a greater number of female architects in the market - since the number of formally prepared professionals has increased significantly" (LIMA, 2014, p. 99)
The importance of shedding light on these works is the reason that guides the research proposed by ARQTETATLAS. When these projects become known and studied, it presents new narratives. In this way, the history of architecture begins can be told from a perspective with more layers of diversity, accentuating the actual complexity of its panorama.
If the meaning of something only exists when it is perceived [1], and the capacity of perception depends on the cultural elements of its context, therefore, raising the debate about the woman's architectural production seems essential to achieve a holistic view of the context. And thus, finally, debates the society in which we want to live.
The contribution of ARQTETATLAS to the construction of this history takes place through activist research, building a database in the form of an atlas, which identifies and publishes contemporary architecture by women. Latin America (limited to the territories of South and Central America) is the territorial clipping approached by the study, which knows and makes known the work of these women architects. Although women's productions exist in contexts with similar aspects, they also have cultural and local differences that make each architectural expression a learning opportunity.
"It is a common thought in Latin America that it can be understood as a great cultural unit, encompassing its cities, its historical centers, its architecture, as well as its political and financial problems. This is the simplified image that has been formed from an external view, which assigns Latin America a common destiny on the world scene." (LIMA, 2014, p.32)
"The regional focus is indispensable for the knowledge and valorization of different types of heritage wealth, as well as for the formulation of revitalization plans." (LIMA, 2014, p.32)
The interest in the Latin American section intends to highlight the role of regional architecture detached from European analyses - highlighting aspects that strengthen the reading of local cultural identity of its own. It also aims to understand the architect woman's role within the context of historically colonized countries, which were forced to face difficulties that diverge from the context of architecture education, imported from European and North American countries.
"Today, Europe continues to fantasize about America, and America has been reinventing the old continent for five centuries. On the other hand, Latin America's continuous economic and political crises are reflected in its architectural production; at this point, the transparent interaction between politics and creativity, economics and city building is very evident." (CANTIS apud SAUER, 2019, p.83)
The research's organization happens through mappings, with the possibility of presenting in an analytical way the indicators of architectural, cultural, political, economic, etc. landscapes specific to each country. The activist research, therefore, brings in itself the opportunity to combine this data to generate content that will enable new research, with the commitment to foment and elevate the debate around the field of architectural design.
XI BIAU AND THE SELECTION PANORAMA OF WORKS: "THE DWELLER, THE INHABITANT
Latin American architecture occupies a prominent place in the contemporary scenario [2], especially when it comes to experimental architecture, attentive to the typical conditions of each region. One confirmes this statement when we observe awards and publications related to the theme in recent years. The discussion and dissemination of the architectural debate in Latin America are driven, for example, by the space that the BIAU occupies - Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism, which reached the mark of 11 editions in the year 2019.
For the analysis below, the latest edition of the BIAU will be our object of approach. We will look for indicators of increased recognition, and we will also analyze the woman's representativity in the professional field of contemporary architecture.
In the XI BIAU, there were 997 projects enrolled in the Panorama of Works Selection, with the theme "The dwelling, The inhabitant", and among them, 17 were winning projects [3]. Of these, thirteen proposals are from offices of Latin American origin, located in the following countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The remaining awarded works were from Portuguese and Spanish firms. Our analysis will focus only on the projects conceived by Latin American architects.
The contemporary themes of sustainable construction methods, rationing in the building process, exploration of collaborative ways of design and execution of works, investigations, and also experiments on new materials are some factors that draw attention in Latin American architecture. All those, we find in the winning projects. Among them, for example, is the project "A new school in the Native Community of Jerusalén de Miñaro", from 2017, designed by the Peruvian office Semillas, led by Italian immigrant architect Marta Maccaglia. Their work is, essentially, centered on educational and investigative projects focused on the Peruvian Amazon region, exploring the use of local materials and collaborative labor, involving all scales of community entities to realize the project.
Another example to be highlighted is the San Juan María Vianney Church, by the Venezuelan firm Enlace Arquitetura, led by architect Elisa Silva. The church project, accompanied by a public square, occupies the center of the rural community Media Legua. Facing the challenge of the current lack of public and private investment in collective Venezuelan spaces, the office organizes itself around the strategic use of community labor and mobilization for donations.
Latin American women architects have also been standing out in the general panorama of architectural production. Among the firms that authored the 13 Latin American winning projects of the 11th edition of the event, one perceives that most of the names mentioned refer to cooperative teams of two or more people. This data may point the direction of overcoming the idea of the "star architect" – very common in the last century, whose male first and last names were the usual titles to star the news involving architectural awards.
In addition to the recurrent decrease in male first names, we also observed the non-existence of female first names as office titles among the award-winning authors. This observation may indicate the current rise of firms with the collective formation and collaborative practices for project conception. And understanding that even the ascending prominent offices, which carry as title the first name of the titular architect, tend to point in the direction of overcoming the concept of the "exceptional female architect" – created by the architectural historian Gwendolyn Wright, in 1977, to identify how women act in the professional field (LIMA, 2014, p.17), and recognizing the price, infinitely higher, that women professionals paid to reach a level of recognition equal to the male professional.
"the exceptional architect, who, by sacrificing her personal life, marriage, children, etc., and working hard, has achieved a degree of recognition uncommon for a woman, is comparable to that of an exceptional man;" (LIMA, 2014, p.17)
On the other hand, the award-winning offices are essentially named after last names or common nouns, making it hard to identify the women behind the conception of the award-winning projects. Therefore, ARQTETATLAS understands that it is absolutely relevant to bring these names to light so that these female architects can be identified and known. Furthermore, we comprehend that this recognition is indispensable to correctly interpret the conquests that concern the space for female representation. And also to recognize the role of feminist struggles for gender equality in the professional area, which have grown significantly in recent years, through individual and collective actions.
Below are highlighted the 13 Latin American projects awarded at the XI BIAU, in the Panorama of Work Selection "The dwelling, the inhabitant", and the identification of their authorship.
Except for the public agencies involved in the design of the award-winning projects, this leaves 11 architecture firms. Among them, 8 have a woman as a partner and/or founder. These architects are directly involved in the conception processes of their firms' projects. They are the women at the forefront of the highest level of the Latin American debate on contemporary architecture. They are the architects identified below:
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
In this article, we approached the Panorama of Works Selection Award, of the XI BIAU, as a form of dissemination and recognition of the works designed by Latin American women architects. But also as a way to reassume our commitment as an activist research collective. We consider it fundamental that the names of these women architects be divulged with the same commitment and enthusiasm that the names and achievements of architects are divulged.
Making efforts to publicize this, and other researches with the same theme, in the academic environment, focusing on the period of formation of the students, has a role of utmost importance and consequent reflection on the professional future of each one.
"The discourses constructed by architectural historiographies will constitute the universe of references and possibilities of each student's professional world. One should not underestimate the impact of these readings and discourses on the formation of student minds. This information will gain a reasonable measure of credibility as names, dates, concepts, and values are reinforced throughout the years of study. The more they are repeated, the more they gain truth status, configuring what students and professionals will come to call professional reality (LIMA, 2004)." (LIMA, 2020, p.181)
Our goal is to complement the range of design references for students by providing them with examples made by women professionals. With this, opportunities are created for female students to identify the space of project conception as a place of belonging. Besides, allowing this space to be recognized as legitimate by male students. In addition, the presentation of new references for design studies contributes to the consequent diversity of solutions and design strategies absorbed by male and female students, who will be facing works conceived by a heterogeneous group of authors - understanding that this diversity does not end only in sex issues, but also encompassing gender, race, and socio-geographic issues.
In this sense, in October 2020, at the invitation of Professor Dr. Clarissa de Oliveira Pereira, the ARQTETATLAS team participated in the panel "Arq (in) Casa" promoted by the faculty of the Architecture and Urbanism course of the Faculdade Franciscana de Santa Maria - Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The team showed the ideas present in this article, among other analyses. The collective also introduced, and made available part of the database collected by the research, organizing it categorically, intending to present new data to supply the students' design references.
Besides the work developed by our activist research collective – ARQTETATLAS – several feminist collectives have emerged in recent years, as a reflection of the no longer tolerable discriminatory culture. The actions of these groups are various - not only presenting the identities of woman architects but also emphasizing the importance of publicizing their work. They also invest in awareness campaigns for gender equity in the profession, through research and publications, in search of increasing recognition - in the academic and professional environment - and the consequent improvement in the opportunities offered. Some of these collectives are the Brazilian "Arquitetas Invisíveis" and "Arquitetas Negras"; the Chilean "Mujer Arquitecta"; the Argentine "Un día/Una arquitecta", "Arquitectas MZA", "Aca Estamos Nosotras", among many others.
Notas
[1] Paraphrasing the central idea of the Irish immaterialist philosopher George Berkeley, who defends the thesis that "to be is to be perceived".
[2] "South American architecture has once again come to the forefront of architectural magazines and has, once again, become a focus of debate on contemporary architecture. This is not to say that architecture from this region had disappeared from the pages of books, magazines, and architectural periodicals. But its presence had been limited to modernist buildings and urban plans produced in the mid-twentieth century. Since the early 1930s, South American modernism has been the most representative aspect of the continent's architectural tradition." (HERNANDEZ apud SAUER, 2019, p.150)
[3] The complete list of the winning projects and offices of the Panorama of Works selection award, with the theme "The dwelling, The inhabitant", is available on the official website, which can be accessed via the link:
http://www.bienalesdearquitectura.es/index.php/es/noticias-biau2/archivo-de-noticias/9400-arranca-la-xi-biau-en-asuncion-paraguay-17-proyectos-premiados.html
Referências
LIMA, A. G. G. (2014). Arquitetas e arquiteturas na América Latina do Século XX. São Paulo: Altamira Editorial.
LIMA, A. G. G. (2020) Ensino de arquitetura e urbanismo: discurso, prática projetual e gênero. In: NAME, A. M. Leo. (Org.). Por um ensino insurgente em arquitetura e urbanismo. Foz do Iguaçu: Edunila.
SAUER, C. (2019). Arquitetura x Escassez na produção contemporânea em território latino-americano. Dissertação de Mestrado. Programa de Pós Graduação em Arquitetura. Faculdade de Arquitetura, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brasil.
Autora: Mariana Alves Barbosa, Mestranda pelo PPGAU-Mackenzie;
Colaboração: Juliana Trama, Pós-graduanda em Geografia, Cidade e Arquitetura pela Associação Escola da Cidade; Thaís Coelho, Arquiteta e Urbanista, Universidade P. Mackenzie; Amanda Tamburus, Arquiteta e Urbanista, Universidade P. Mackenzie.
Contacto: arqtetatlas@gmail.com
Site: www.arqtetatlas.com
Instagram: @arqtetatlas https://www.instagram.com/arqtetatlas/
São Paulo, Brasil.
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